Humboldt Broncos tragedy.

[calgarybornnraised]

28 people on the bus,14 deceased and 14 injured,3 critically. Just devastating.

[Dion]

“It’s disbelief. It’s shock. The deepest grief that you can ever imagine,” a stunned Kevin Garinger said late Friday night, while driving home to Humboldt from Swift Current.

Garinger is the president of the Humboldt Broncos as well as the local school division’s director of education. He said he was in shock, and struggling to make sense of a terrible tragedy.

“Our organization will never be the same,” Garinger said of the hockey club he loves, one he said aspired to make not only good hockey players but also good young men as well.

“Our thoughts and prayers — everything we have in terms of our energy is directed toward trying to deal with, cope with the loss that’s occurred here,” he said.

Myles Shumlanski, father of Broncos player Nick Shumlanski, said he got a call from his son and they picked him up.

“It’s only a quarter-mile from our house,” he said.

“There are casualties and it’s very bad. We were at the scene helping,” Shumlanski said.

“It was a disaster,” he said. “We had a crane lifting the bus.”

Shumlanski said that his son is being flown to Saskatoon after receiving treatment at a hospital in Tisdale.

SJHL President Bill Chow said he was waiting to learn more details about the crash.

“I go to sleep every night worrying about the kids on buses and everybody else,” he said. “Unfortunately, this happened tonight and we’ll have to wait and see what the facts are.”

Dean Brockman, former longtime coach of the Humboldt Broncos, said it was a terrible, tragic day.

“Anyone who’s ever stepped on the bus to go to a game, people who have done that will recall a lot of bad memories that something almost happened or, when you look at things that did happen, or when you look at things that happened 30 years ago in Swift Current, it brings back a lot of bad memories, for sure,” he said.

Swift Current Broncos head coach Manny Viveiros said he could remember when his team’s bus crashed, and news of the Humboldt team’s tragedy made him feel “in shock.”

“It’s family. It’s not just our community. It’s family,” Viveiros said.

The Swift Current Broncos played the Moose Jaw Warriors Friday night in their WHL playoff series, but Warriors head coach Tim Hunter said they didn’t tell the players about the crash until after the game.

“The hockey community is a very tight community and everyone is thinking about those people,” Hunter said.

http://thestarphoenix.com/news/local...-highway-crash

[Snuffleupagus]

Originally Posted by Reggie Dunlop

The bus was T-boned at an intersection. Given the tremendous impact and devastation, I'm wondering if the semi driver survived. Doesn't seem likely.

Assuming the bus was going north on #35 towards Nipawin it's safe to assume the semi ran the stop sign on 335. personally it's my belief all these county 80 km+ intersections should be 4 way stops, far too many horrific crashes happen on these highways

[Inferno]

Terrible news. When I heard there were multiple fatalities I just hoped that it didn't reach double digits.

[White Out 403]

Any pictures of the intersection during the day available? If the semi driver ran a stop and killed a dozen kids this guy should never be free again. If he survived. Horrifying.

[getbak]

Originally Posted by White Out 403

Any pictures of the intersection during the day available? If the semi driver ran a stop and killed a dozen kids this guy should never be free again. If he survived. Horrifying.

If it was the intersection of 35 & 335 as has been mentioned, it's here: https://goo.gl/maps/WoLpKQEFYRL2

If the truck was going westbound on 335, the trees to the south would have blocked the view of any northbound traffic on 35.

[Manhattanboy]

Lead story around the world. This is heartbreaking. Just terrible. So sad right now.

[Snuffleupagus]

Originally Posted by White Out 403

Any pictures of the intersection during the day available? If the semi driver ran a stop and killed a dozen kids this guy should never be free again. If he survived. Horrifying.

Google maps.
https://www.google.ca/maps/@53.10372...7i13312!8i6656

Also, assuming the truck driver was clean and sober all I can say is humans make mistakes and accidents happen, as I said earlier these high speed county intersections should all be 4 way stops not 2 ways. I lost a good friend many years ago at one of these. these type of accidents can be prevented at the expense of 2 more stop signs and about 30 seconds of travel time.

Apparently this particular intersection had 6 previous deaths but yet nothing was done to prevent more carnage..so dumb

[Manhattanboy]

CNN just quoted Chris Cuthbert: “This is the saddest day ever in hockey.”

[Minnie]

Kid from Airdrie on that team - he survived. Another from Didsbury - haven't heard about him yet.

[Deegee]

Originally Posted by Minnie

Kid from Airdrie on that team - he survived. Another from Didsbury - haven't heard about him yet.

Want to PM me the Didsbury name?

[Minnie]

Originally Posted by Deegee

Want to PM me the Didsbury name?

I don't know it - only that he was from Didsbury, according to several articles I read. My son's girlfriend is from Didsbury; I imagine it will be known by morning. News spreads quickly in small towns where everyone knows everyone. The team roster is online - 3 boys' names do not have current hometowns listed, so you may draw whatever conclusion you wish to, from that. I am wondering if the articles are correct about Didsbury, and meant Olds instead. I only knew who the boy from Airdrie was because of a mutual friend of his mother's, who commented on her public post regarding her son.

Unbelievably awful. The number of lives lost feels nearly unfathomable.

[getbak]

Darren Haynes tweeted out an image of the team's roster (presumably from their website).

https://twitter.com/user/status/982473309261512704

No one with a Didsbury hometown, but there is one from Olds.

[N-E-B]

Originally Posted by White Out 403

Any pictures of the intersection during the day available? If the semi driver ran a stop and killed a dozen kids this guy should never be free again. If he survived. Horrifying.

Assuming this was an honest mistake;

It’s not like he planned on killing 14 people when he woke up this morning. Lots of people blow stop signs accidentally and nothing happens. This one just happened to have a horrible outcome.

Personally I think the weight that will be on his shoulders for the rest of his life is punishment enough, not to mention this will probably cost him his livelihood. Depending on the findings of the investigation it very well could cost him years of his freedom too.

I feel bad for the semi-driver too. Keeping him in my thoughts as well.

[Minnie]

Originally Posted by getbak

Darren Haynes tweeted out an image of the team's roster

No one with a Didsbury hometown, but there is one from Olds.

That's what made me wonder if the articles mixed up the town names. How they could mix up Didsbury and Olds is beyond me.

[getbak]

Originally Posted by Minnie

That's what made me wonder if the articles mixed up the town names. How they could mix up Didsbury and Olds is beyond me.

He may have been born in Olds but grew up in the Didsbury area. A lot of hockey players have their place of birth listed as their home town (and vice versa).

[getbak]

This was posted from the hospital...

https://twitter.com/user/status/982538086042210304

According to the roster, Graysen is the one from Olds.

[jonkaupp]

Originally Posted by Racki

For those of us that have lost loved ones in a tradgedy like this, words just cannot describe the anguish.

I was 14 years old when I saw the the search and rescue pilot turn to his partner as they stepped out of their helicopter and say the words, “there’s no survivors on that plane, everyone is dead.” Those were his exact words. My father was the pilot. I did the same fall to my knees that the father of that boy on that bus from Humboldt just did.

My heart aches for these people because I know that life for them will never, ever be the same. I cannot express how awful I feel for these families.

I lost my father, my brother (best friend and business partner) and two very good friends in a plane accident just 5 weeks ago where my father was the pilot. I was in a hospital room with my wife who had to have an emergency c section after being up 18 hours waiting on word from search and rescue, that’s where I fell to my knees. One hour later my wife gave birth to twins, our first.

I’d never experienced anything even remotely resembling a tragedy beforehand. It has changed my view on these things and they certainly hit a lot harder than they had, the pain is truly immeasurable. All my thoughts go out to the families and loved ones, I grieve for the dead and send love to the survivors.

[Sylvanfan]

This is definitely the type of thing that shakes you to the core. What would there be around 30 people on the bus? So this is a big fatlaity rate.

I know some intersections near here they have went to round abouts. Slow to 50 and enter to round about. It forces the speeds down and changes the approach angle to make accidents less severe if there is a collision.

Maybe this tragedy will result in more of these at rural highway intersections.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by Snuffleupagus

Assuming the bus was going north on #35 towards Nipawin it's safe to assume the semi ran the stop sign on 335. personally it's my belief all these county 80 km+ intersections should be 4 way stops, far too many horrific crashes happen on these highways

Yep, far to easy to zone out and miss signs. Around Calgary they fixed the highway 22 ones heading east after the fatalities a few years ago and the 9 and the 21 intersection as well. But more should definately be 4 - way stops. The ones that scare me now in Alberta that I drive a few times a year are the ones on the short cut to Saskatoon where the 570 crosses the 36,56,41 and 884.

Though I think I try to rationalize these tragedies by finding solutions to future ones which does nothing really for the victims. Really a tragic accident. I can imagine the guilt you feel if you survive something like this. Your choice of bus seat determined if you lived of died.